Jaleo at Disney Springs – Two for the Price of One

Is that an artichoke? The Disney Springs skyline is adding another distinctive building to it’s cornucopia of offerings. Later this winter another famous chef, Jose Andres, will be joining the likes of Morimoto, Rick Bayless, Guy Fieri, Wolfgang Puck, and Art Smith, as celebrity chefs with restaurants at Disney Springs. Bringing his Spanish cuisine, Jose Andres is opening both a sit down restaurant (Jaleo) and quick serve location (Pepe). Both locations will be styled by famous Spanish designer Jui Capella’s to celebrate Spanish culture. We hope you brought your appetite, we’ve got a lot to taste.

Concept Art for Inside Jaleo

Jaleo by Jose Andres

On the West Side of Disney Springs, next to the House of Blues and across from the NBA Experience, comes Jaleo. A restaurant designed in the shape of an artichoke and is a homage to Jose Andres’ upbringing in the mountain town of Mieres, Spain. Known as the man who brought the Spanish tapas concept to the American restaurant scene, Jaleo will be offering tapas, paella, and sangria.

We’re still uncertain of the exact menu items. What we do know is the restaurant will be serving up authentic Spanish cheese and charcuterie, unique seafood paellas, and a wide array of Spanish wines. One thing is for certain, with a 2 Michelin star chef at the helm, Jaleo will be something memorable.

Disney has not announced if Jaleo will be accepting any of the Dining Plan options. The restaurant is labelled as a signature restaurant, which tells us if it does accept the Disney Dining Plan it would be two meal credits.

Passholder Insights: Some signature restaurants are worth using two meal credits and some are not. With the menu style being tapas, Jaleo may not be a restaurant you would want to use two dining credits. We recommend looking at the menu ahead of time to see if it’s worthwhile for you or not.

Pepe Sandwich

Pepe by Jose Andres

The famous Washington D.C. food truck is finally pulling its parking brake for good at Disney Springs. When we peel back a part of the Jaleo artichoke, we find that Jose Andres is also bringing Pepe to Walt Disney World. Officially announced on January 23, for the first time the food truck will have a brick and mortar location.

Pepe will offer up an array of Spanish style sandwiches, soups, salads, sides, and of course sangria. The official announcement from Disney Parks highlighted a couple of the menu items;

Serrano y Manchego, served on crispy Pan de Cristal with tomato fresco

Bocata de Vegetales, made with roasted peppers, onion, green asparagus, spinach, and manchego cheese on Pan de Cristal

We’ll take one of each please!

At the moment, it is unknown if this quick serve location will be included in the Disney Dining Plan. If it is, we would expect it to count as one quick serve credit.

Overall the addition of Jose Andres to the celebrity chef offerings at Disney Springs is outstanding. There are very few places around the world where you can enjoy food from a who’s who of the restaurant world. Sangria anyone?